In case you missed the news, Antoine Semenyo (£8.3m) looks set to be out until mid-December with a knee injury.

Since then, we’ve seen a few site users asking which of Manchester City’s players stand to benefit most from the winger’s absence.

So, that’s what we’ll be attempting to answer in this article.

WHICH GAMEWEEKS WILL SEMENYO MISS?

Enzo Maresca estimated an eight-week absence for Semenyo, although the November international break accounts for a fortnight of that.

If the timeline is accurate, the Ghanaian international could be returning around Gameweek 15. You’d imagine he’ll be eased back in with substitute appearances after two months out, of course.

It’s not the easiest of runs for City, with Fulham at home the only fixture that sets the pulses racing. Aston Villa, who City face next, haven’t been watertight, mind:

WHERE HAS SEMENYO PLAYED THIS SEASON?

We’ve taken (and adapted) the above image from our Minutes Tracker, one of our many tools in the Members Area.

Semenyo has chiefly been stationed on the left wing, although he’s also had a couple of run-outs on the right.

While we hadn’t seen it in action, Maresca had also earmarked Semenyo as a possible deputy to Erling Haaland (£15.6m).

“Antoine [Semenyo] can be there. It depends on the game plan. But we can also use different players in that position.” – Enzo Maresca, speaking on his striking options in September

WHAT ARE MARESCA’S OPTIONS NOW WITHOUT SEMENYO?

Using Build Lineup, we’ve had a look at the options available to Maresca in all four front positions. It’s the two wide-midfield roles we’re focusing on here, of course, given that’s where Semenyo has featured for City this season.

Most of these players have already played in these positions, from Rayan Ait-Nouri (£5.2m) on the left in the EFL Cup and pre-season to Nico O’Reilly (£6.3m) in the ’10’ in Gameweek 1 – although it was more ‘needs must’ in the cases of those two players. We wouldn’t expect to see too many repeats of those experiments in the Premier League.

Enzo Fernandez (£6.9m) hasn’t started in the hole for City yet but did so for Maresca at Chelsea.

Phil Foden (£6.8m), similarly, hasn’t been up front in 2026/27 but was mentioned as an option as a Haaland deputy by his manager on Monday. He’s played that role in the past, too.

SO, WHO STANDS TO BENEFIT?

Essentially, every wide-midfield option gets a bump in expected minutes and a nudge up the pecking order.

Some of those increases will be minimal. Allan (£6.0m), for example has only played 10 minutes of Premier League football. Even with Semenyo’s injury, he’s probably not going to that much more top-flight game-time; maybe more substitute appearances, cup run-outs and the chance of an odd league start (Fulham in Gameweek 11?).

On the surface, Jeremy Doku (£7.5m) and Iliman Ndiaye (£5.8m) are the big winners. Doku is down his main positional rival on the left, while Ndiaye has one less versatile competitor on the right. It was these two who started in Gameweek 7, indeed, when Semenyo dropped out. The pair are natural wingers, too, and we know how much Maresca prefers that breed of wide-man.

But are they nailed and rotation-proof? Not likely. The injury-prone Doku, for example, hasn’t started three games in a week in all of 2026. We have to go back to November/December of last year for the last example of that. We’re reliant on him getting midweek rests in the Champions League/EFL Cup, which, in fairness, did happen on Tuesday.

And now Foden has entered the chat. He stands more chance of featuring now, with stints on the right wing and up top now likelier to occur in Semenyo’s absence.

Maresca made it clear in August, when starting Foden as an emergency winger, that he prefers him in the ’10’ – but what a marker he laid down against AEK Athens, scoring a hat-trick from the right flank.

“He is adapting a little bit wide. We know he’s not a winger. But we are trying to find solutions. In the last 10 or 15 minutes when he was inside, you could see he was enjoying it more.” – Enzo Maresca, speaking in August, on Phil Foden’s run-outs as a winger

Long story short, probably Doku has the immediate edge, given that Foden’s superlative performance against AEK may dent Ndiaye’s short-term xMins.

But do we expect the Belgian, or indeed any City attacking midfielder, to start all eight league fixtures between now and Semenyo’s possible return? Not on your nelly.

Let Maresca’s rotation in Gameweek 7, and his words in Monday’s presser, serve as fair warning.

“Yeah, we need to pay attention [to players’ workloads]. No doubt. This is the reason why we did some changes against Ipswich. That’s why we need to do some changes [against AEK], to try to manage all the players in the best way, try to keep them fit.” – Enzo Maresca on rotating players, especially those who have been at the World Cup this summer